by Allison Yager

In the heart of San Francisco’s bustling Union Square Plaza, the Dolby Chadwick Gallery is located on the second floor of the Shreve Building. Established by Lisa Dolby Chadwick in 1997 for the city’s visual art enthusiasts, the gallery has successfully spent the past 28 years cultivating community with free exhibitions of varying mediums.

For its 2025 summer season — July 10 through Aug. 30 — the Dolby Chadwick Gallery opted to feature a collection of hyperrealistic oil paintings by Chris Cosnowski, an esteemed long-term faculty member at the American Academy of Art in Chicago before the school’s closing and a nationally recognized exhibition artist. Upon stepping into the gallery, viewers immediately encountered the vibrant pops of color on the large still-life canvases adorning the walls of the high-ceilinged center room, a beaming introduction to Cosnowski’s “Shimmering Tale” exhibition.

To the immediate left of the front door was Cosnowski’s centerpiece:  “Shimmering Tale.” The titular painting featured a golden trophy, depicting a rearing horse standing on a block of marble with a cowboy riding atop. From a distance, the crisp outline of the shining metallic forms, etched against a blue sky with fluffy, white clouds, could hardly be discerned from a print photograph. But if a viewer stood closer, they were able to see the sweeping brush strokes — gray, dark green and yellow — comprising the reflective illusion. On the wall opposite was “Victory in Sunlight,” depicting a gleaming Nike trophy — the goddess, not the logo — holding a laurel wreath above its head, similarly situated against a serene azure atmosphere.

Paramount to Cosnowski’s exhibit was how prominent figures remain highly regarded in contemporary American society, even when their representations glimmer with artifice in a heavily commercial world. While his trophy paintings showcased figures representing heroism and might, upon meticulous inspection, viewers could see the playful incorporation of his silhouette and face amid the painted reflections. Such a choice cleverly underscored how heroism and grandeur become diminished and tangible in the form of cheap, mass-produced trophies.

Cosnowski’s expert shading and critique of commercialism similarly appeared in his “Adam” and “Eve,” still-life paintings in the second room of the gallery. The two nude, porcelain figurines stood on a smooth white floor and were positioned to stare straight ahead as a flat overhead light etched them in shadow. Cosnowski stripped them of any expression, evoking amusement and some confusion in such a simple, dainty biblical representation.On a similar glossy white surface, Cosnowski’s “Spirit Pour Homme,” “72% Blank” and “Milk and Honey” depicted soaps, carefully painted in soft pastels, with their brand names carved in elaborate detail. With curving lines and pale hues, the collection epitomized how cleanliness is often a commercialized, aestheticized value.

While Cosnowski’s exhibition rang with symbolic resonance and impeccable self-awareness, beckoning viewers to closely examine skillful shading techniques and pigment variations, some of his pieces were simply nonsensical fun. Whether it was “Step Right Up” — a plastic Jiminy Cricket atop a Rubik’s Cube — or “Grouch” and “The Count” — two portraits of their plastic toy namesakes — the vibrant colors and pop culture references from varying eras gave the exhibition an nostalgia that reminded viewers not to take things too seriously.

Cosnowski’s “Shimmering Tale” exquisitely intertwined memory with popular commodities. What was usually viewed as ordinary and mundane became uncanny and delightfully idiosyncratic through the artist’s vivid reimagining, which effectively blurred lines between nostalgia and satire.

By tastefully beckoning audiences to laugh, remember and reflect — inviting them to call into question how much of their sense of value is tied to mass-produced objects — Cosnowski expertly transforms the shimmering surfaces of his paintings into visceral reflections of Americana.